Eight classes a semester! Our universities must run on a very different model. For me (humanities degree), a full course load was five courses at once, each of which had three instructional hours per week. So I was normally in class for 15 hours a week, and probably spent about the same amount of time studying/reading. Going from five classes to four effectively meant going from 30 hours a week spent on school stuff to 24. It was much easier (especially since I was also working p/t).

Oh, also! I don’t know if you live on campus or if you’re a commuter, but if the latter: stay on campus during the day! Sometimes I had big enough schedule gaps that I could have gone home in between classes, but staying on campus instead made it a lot easier to just go to the library or whatever.

Pomodoro timers, as someone else mentioned, are great. It was a lot easier to start when I could tell myself “ok, I only have to do this for fifteen minutes” – and most of the time when that first timer went off I’d gotten into a groove and kept going anyway.

For writing assignments, I found starting with a blank page really difficult, so I’d paste in a paragraph or two of lorem ipsum or some other nonsense text and go from there. Having words on the page, even though they were irrelevant and I knew I’d have to delete them later, tricked my brain into thinking “oh, I’ve already started this; carry on, then!”

The habit of doing even just a little bit every day was more sustainable and more effective for me than infrequent big cram/study/writing sessions.

I had probably the most success with using musical cueing. Whenever I sat down to write or study, I listened to one of the same two albums on repeat. (I like classical; one was Handel’s Messiah and the other was a two-disc set of Thomas Tallis choral works.) Even now, almost a decade later, when I put either of those on it instantly snaps me into work mode. Creating that kind of association is really helpful! And having only one or two choices also meant I couldn’t distract myself by trying to figure out what to listen to: it was A or B, end of.

You might also consider how/whether you could spread out your course load. Most years in undergrad I did five classes a semester, but one or twice I did four only (plus a summer class to stay on track) and being at only 80% of a full load made a huge difference.

Good luck!

One of the problems that ADHDers have is they think the meds solve everything, but it only works when you have the added coping mechanisms.

Conversely, some people are only able to get to a state where they can develop those strategies after they’ve been able to access medication.

Hi, I’m writing as someone with ADHD who was not diagnosed until my mid-30s, and also as a parent of a child who is medicated for his ADHD. We both have inattentive-type (no hyperactivity).

My husband was also very nervous about medicating our son. Part of what convinced him was seeing the very positive difference it made in my life when I started taking medication. After some trial I found a dose that works well for me; it helps me to focus and stay organized, and I still feel completely myself. There are some side effects, for me mostly to do with appetite, but they are manageable.

Our son is a few years older than yours, and he’s on a low dose (10mg) of his medication, which works well for him. It does help him keep on track with things like schoolwork, but by far the biggest benefit we’ve seen is in the social/emotional sphere. He is much better able to recognize and control his emotions, and he almost never has an emotional meltdown anymore (whereas before small things would set him off very easily). He’s a happy, engaged kid.

The one thing we have to monitor with him is his weight gain. Because appetite suppression is a side-effect, his growth slowed down a lot. For a while we saw his doctor every three months (then every six) so that she could keep an eye on it. We try to feed him a good breakfast and a lot of food at/after dinner once his meds have worn off, since he eats very little during the day. At his doctor’s suggestion, he also foregoes his medication one day a week so that he can have a more regular eating day. He’s back on track with weight gain, which is good! (The meds also make it difficult for him to fall asleep at night; again, at his doctor’s suggestion, he takes a small dose of melatonin – this is over-the-counter in my country although I know it isn’t everywhere – which sets him up nicely.)

The good thing about ADHD meds is that they’re not like SSRIs where you probably won’t feel a difference for 4-6 weeks and then have to carefully wean off them. ADHD meds kick in 30-60 minutes after you take them, and their effect lasts 8-12 hours and then stops. It will be very easy to see whether they’re effective for your son, and it’s safe and easy to stop and try a different drug or a different dose if needed.

I hope that helps! Feel free to ask follow-up questions if you’d like.